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A rare star that repeatedly explodes appears to be also generating the most energetic form of light in the Universe. Analysis of an eruption from the binary system RS Ophiuchi has revealed that the shock wave expanding out into space acts as a particle accelerator that generates gamma radiation. This suggests the conditions that generate … Read more
Ceres might be spewing cryovolcanoes in yet another spot on the dwarf planet’s surface. Close-up pictures from NASA’s Dawn mission that orbited Ceres between 2015 and 2018 revealed salt deposits in a crater known as Urvara, spotted for the first time in a new study. The salt deposits may be associated with icy volcanoes, the … Read more
An unusual pair of stars may have been formed in a rare type of stellar merger when a helium star eats another one made of carbon and oxygen Space 15 February 2022 By Leah Crane Artist’s impression of a merger between two white dwarf stars Nicole Reindl, University of Potsdam Two strange stars that researchers … Read more
Astronomers have found 65 evenly spaced rocks orbiting a white dwarf star in its habitable zone, hinting that a planet’s gravity may be holding them there Space 11 February 2022 By Leah Crane Illustration of the white dwarf star WD 1054-226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone … Read more
Black holes may be well known for their gluttonous tendencies, but they’re not the only dead stars capable of slurping down passing objects. For years, evidence has been mounting that white dwarf stars also have a penchant for snacking – and on their own planets, no less. Now, for the first time, astronomers have … Read more
Black holes can not only rip stars apart, but they can also trigger star formation, as scientists have now seen in a nearby dwarf galaxy. At the centers of most, if not all, large galaxies are supermassive black holes with masses that are millions to billions of times that of Earth’s sun. For instance, at … Read more
Black holes located in dwarf galaxies usually stop star formation, but now one has been seen seeding new stars through a huge plume of ionised gas Space 19 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins A dwarf galaxy known as Hen 2-10 NASA A black hole at the centre of a dwarf galaxy has birthed new stars … Read more
The dwarf galaxy Mrk 462. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Dartmouth Coll./J. Parker & R. Hickox; Optical/IR: Pan-STARRS) A newly discovered “mini” supermassive black hole could help reveal some of the secrets behind the biggest black holes in the cosmos. Researchers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently discovered a monstrous black hole that was “buried” in dust … Read more
Because they emit nothing we can detect, there are many things about black holes we simply do not know. Amongst the most perplexing are supermassive black holes, millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. Since black holes form from the cores of massive dead individual stars, how do supermassive behemoths grow so … Read more
Most Universe Today readers are familiar with nebulae. They’re gaseous structures lit up with radiation from nearby stars, and they’re some of nature’s most beautiful forms. With the help of amateur astronomers who laid the groundwork, an international team of astronomers has discovered a new type of nebulae around binary stars that they’re calling galactic … Read more